Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 041
Chapter Title: Fierce Training, Graveyard of the Beacon Keepers (1)
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0.
- I hope we can meet some children there too.
That voice.
A voice I can no longer hear pierced through my heart with a bitter pain.
- Stay alive.
I gasped for air and opened my eyes.
The moment I did, blinding sunlight poured into them.
Sunlight... sunlight?
It was absurd.
Impossible.
I rose from the dirt floor, muttering to myself. In my world, the sun had died and vanished long ago.
A vast wasteland filled my vision.
A wasteland dyed red by the sunset on the distant horizon.
A pleasant breeze suddenly blew, making the wild grasses of the wasteland rustle softly.
A hollow yet chilling realization dawned on me.
I flexed my hands and feet.
Not only was my severed lower body intact, but my entire body was free of any pain.
And instead of the [Shadow Exoskeleton Cloak], I was dressed in white burial clothes.
I see.
So that's how it is.
I've died too, in the end.
- Just...
Suddenly.
The scene from the eve of our expedition flashed before my eyes.
- I thought it would be nice if we could keep gathering like this and laughing from now on.
Something hot trailed down my cheek.
Jeong Ha-kyeong, who looked pretty when she smiled sometimes.
Hong Byeong-gyu laughing heartily in his good-natured way, Yoon Geon-woo always stammering as if annoyed, the mischievous maknae Cha Seung-hyeon,
And... Kim Gye-sang with his languid smile.
- I'd like us to do the same in the next raid.
I can't anymore.
I can never go back there.
I can never see them again.
Damn it...
A headache surged.
Blood trickled from my bitten lip. My fists trembled.
To the nightmare.
I'd already lost everything once.
And now, the handful I'd barely reclaimed... taken from me again.
“Because you lack strength, that’s why.”
That was when a polite male voice spoke.
“Strength to pursue your convictions. Strength to uphold justice. You lack any such strength.”
At some point.
It felt familiar, like I'd heard it before.
A voice both strange and familiar.
In a half-dazed state, I turned toward the source.
It was a grave.
A man sat astride the mound of a grave, looking at me.
He was tall and well-built at a glance.
But his face was invisible, shrouded in a mysterious light. So I couldn't tell who he was.
“That’s why it was taken from you. If you don’t realize it this time, it will keep being taken from you.”
Yet I felt not just vague awe, but an inexplicable fondness.
“Must it be taken because you lack strength?”
But the emotion dominating my mind was desperate defiance.
“Is that what you’re saying is natural?”
“Yes.”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
And in the next moment, cold rage boiled up.
“Don’t make me laugh! What kind of wordplay—”
“—It’s no joke or sophistry. Nor is it normal.”
“But why—!”
“—But that is reality. The reality you must base yourself on.”
Reality.
The word pierced my mind more sharply than any blade.
“Reality.”
A powerless laugh escaped.
Resignation washed over me, crumbling my anger.
“Reality, you say.”
“......”
“This torment, this endless sorrow... that’s reality.”
I knew it full well as I asked.
Because reality had always been something I feared facing.
“Yes. Reality will likely remain that cruel until your final journey.”
As I bit my lip,
He continued gently, as if understanding everything.
“But you must face it, confront it as it is. The things you must stand against will never yield to mere stubbornness...”
The things I must stand against?
As my mind calmed, the most crucial question flashed through.
“Wait... who are you to know so well?”
“I can’t help but know.”
His voice was so earnest it defied explanation.
“I was just like you. Foolishly believing that with justice and conviction alone, everything would align.”
...What?
“The end of that ideal was cruel. The woman I loved died, I couldn’t save my comrades from the grasp of the Star Beings right away, and my colleagues all perished horribly in the process...”
His voice painted a picture.
After finishing his long speech, he gazed at the sunset for a while.
“If only I’d had strength, my wandering comrades would now be embraced in the light.”
“...?”
“Above all, Baek-jun wouldn’t have suffered this pain.”
“...!”
“I’m truly sorry about that. But so heartbreakingly, all I had back then was powerless justice...”
Was his throat closing up?
He fell silent after that. Only after a long pause did he speak again.
“Kim Baek-jun.”
“......”
“Powerless justice is another word for incompetence. I desperately hope you don’t follow my path. No, you mustn’t. You are now the world’s last hope.”
I felt a strange fear.
His life’s history seemed a realm I couldn’t dare peer into.
“Who... exactly are you? Where is this place?”
“Indeed. This is the Graveyard of the Beacon Keepers.”
...Graveyard?
Only then did the surroundings come into clear focus.
Countless graves.
For some reason, each grave had a weapon stabbed into it instead of a tombstone.
They weren’t gloomy like ordinary graves.
Why? They felt majestic, sacred beyond words.
“The resting place of past inheritors who fought to death to reclaim the world’s dawn from the Star Beings’ whims, just like you.”
“The sanctuary proving that the will toward dawn has been passed down from the first inheritor, Tersia, to the 100th.”
Tersia... familiar.
Yes. It must be from the beginning of the unique skill 《Holy Flame Succession》 on the first day of ruin.
Huh?
Then my gaze fixed on something. No... how... the grave he’d been sitting on.
The sword stabbed atop it.
A worn, rusted, broken greatsword.
I knew its shape. Impossible not to recognize.
It was... the Dawn Sword.
Which means... no way?
“And I am.”
He gripped the hilt of the Dawn Sword and yanked it from the grave in one motion.
“The 100th inheritor of this blade.”
In that instant, the blade unleashed radiant light in all directions.
“Your predecessor.”
Unbelievable... I shuddered.
Was the Dawn Sword’s light originally so brilliant? It was leagues beyond the faint glow when I held it.
“And a failed inheritor.”
Amid overwhelming awe.
He seemed to smile sadly.
“The master of this [Broken Dawn].”
1.
“...It was you.”
I knelt in place.
Not from respect or awe, but simply because overwhelming emotion sapped my strength.
“The one supporting my stubbornness all along... was you.”
When saving the children’s mother.
When fighting desperately against Haneubarak. When charging headlong at Cha-Ratevil.
Why was that?
He reminded me of a kind father.
Though a bit younger in image, the aura he exuded was endlessly warm and comforting.
Yes.
Like the light of the sun.
“I have many questions.”
From the cause of the ruin.
To the true nature of this game board, everything.
I stammered it out, but he firmly shook his head.
“Regrettably, two reasons prevent me from answering.”
“Two... reasons?”
“One is the risk that the Star Beings might peer into your consciousness.”
Peering into my mind?
A chill ran down my spine.
Was it like the sensation when locking eyes with the Star Messenger?
“His grand plan must never be exposed.”
Plan?
A dizzying realization flashed through.
“You mean... this ruin holds hope? Is that it?”
Until now.
I’d clung only to the Star Messenger’s vague promise. Completely as the weak party. There’d been no other hope to rely on.
“Yes. For now, I’ll say there’s a reward beyond what the Star Messenger promised.”
He seemed to smile faintly.
“She’s astonishingly capable... enough to beguile even the Star Beings.”
No way.
Those transcendent beings?
“What I can tell you now, and your mission, is this.”
“What is it?”
“You must gather the fragments of this Dawn Sword, Baek-jun.”
Fragments?
From where? He raised seven fingers.
“There are seven in total. Thus, each of the ‘Exalted Ones’ holds one.”
“You mean I have to hunt them down?”
“Exactly. When the Dawn regains its true form, the plan truly begins.”
Something.
Like a milestone had appeared. A milestone toward dawn.
“But... isn’t this too detailed?”
“The Star Beings are wise. The Thirty or Seven Star Gods likely suspect as much. They are gods, after all.”
“...I see.”
“But they don’t know the most crucial [what and how].”
He shrugged proudly.
“One fortunate thing, thanks to her ingenuity, is that the Star Beings can’t interfere much in this world.”
Ah... I see.
The Exalted Ones are scattered worldwide.
Cautiously, he didn’t say which had which fragment. Maybe even he didn’t know.
“And the second reason: time is short.”
“Time? What time?”
“The time to temper you strongly, Kim Baek-jun.”
Temper... me?
He glanced at the sunset.
“Three days in real time... so only about 30 days in this Soul Box World. We’ve already wasted more than planned.”
Three days?
“Is my body still alive?”
“Yes. Though in critical condition.”
A weary breath escaped.
Come to think of it, three days matches the recovery time after the near-fatal battle with Cha-Ratevil.
Jeong Ha-kyeong must be working hard again... That thought brought a pang of regret.
“You’ll make me stronger?”
“More precisely, I’ll help. You must strive to become so, Baek-jun.”
“I see. But... if this were possible... if you’d told me sooner...”
In the first raid.
At the World Cup Stadium.
In the second raid.
I could have saved more people.
He seemed to grasp my unspoken words, replying in a pained voice that was hard to follow.
“Before training, let’s clarify first. As you see, the Dawn Sword’s power is incomplete, like a flame.”
“Flame...?”
“Fire can’t burn without fuel. To put it plainly... the Dawn Sword can’t unleash its true power without blood.”
Blood...?
Like Park Ji-won’s 《Bloodline Tracking》? Isn’t that too cruel a power?
“No. It’s different from the stars’ authority. Baek-jun, what makes the world a world?”
No need to think.
My parents’ smiles immediately flashed before me.
“All I can think of is sacrifice.”
“Half right.”
Half?
“The answer is blood. Blood means consideration, devotion, and ultimately, the symbol of sacrifice.”
Arguably, not wrong.
In fields of devotion, sweat flows; in fields of sacrifice, blood flows.
“Because blood is the humanity that makes us human.”
That sweat and blood had firmly built the old world.
“The Dawn Sword’s power stems from that humanity.”
Why say this now?
I pieced together his explanations so far.
No way... is it?
It didn’t take long to reach the conclusion.
“The key is Kim Gye-sang’s blood.”
I hung my head powerlessly.
“Thanks to it, the Dawn Sword was empowered... allowing you to summon me here.”
Kim Gye-sang became the fuel himself. Opening the path to hope for me.
Ah... I bit my lip and barely spoke.
“I don’t know. Truly... whether I was worth such a sacrifice.”
At that moment.
A metallic clang rang at my feet. The Dawn Sword was stabbed there.
“If it’s not false self-deprecation or mourning.”
I jerked my head up.
“But what you truly wish for.”
It was absurd.
He held a Dawn Sword too. One emitting several times more brilliant light than mine.
“Then here, connected by his death, you must learn the Dawn Sword’s true power.”
“...!”
“What will you do?”
What...?
If I draw this sword, in a world where hope has died, I must seek hope anew.
[Broken Dawn’s Master] said that path would be tormenting, sorrowful, and cruel to the end.
That reality hurt and terrified.
Of course I hesitated.
But I.
Wanted to walk that path.
That’s why chances to fight for such a life had come.
Because I’d lived that way, this chance came at the price of a comrade’s death.
So I.
Must see the end of this unseen path.
I reached out.
Slowly. Straight. But surely. Gripping the rusted hilt.
The next moment.
The sword pulled free from the earth with force, scattering dawn’s sword-light everywhere.
“I will.”
That was my answer.
And surely Kim Gye-sang’s desired answer.